HTLV I/II Infection from Blood Donors of GUAYAQUIL – ECUADOR

Abstract

Background: There are two linfo tropic human virus. The HTLV-1 causes the myelopathy which is linked with the HTLV-1 o Tropical spastic paraparesis (TSP) and Adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATL or ATLL). Therefore, the HTLV-2 has been related with neurological symptoms similar to the TSP. In Ecuador, there are not updated statistics about HTLV I/II infection. Objective: To determine the seroprevalence of HTLV I/II infection in blood donors who attended to the blood bank in the ”Teodoro Maldonado Carbo” Hospital from Guayaquil, Ecuador, from April 2017 to December 2018. Materials and methods: The population were twenty-three thousand one hundred ninetyfive (23 195) blood donors. The HTLV I/II antibody detection was done through the Chemiluminescence immunoassay (CLIA) technique. Results: From 23 195 blood donors, 0.73% (n = 170) had a reactive or positive result for HTLV I/II antibodies. The 72% of donors (n=122) with a positive result were males and 28% (n = 48) were women. The average age of donors with a positive test result was 40 ± 21 years old. From the 170 reactive donors, 97 (57%) were employed, 51 were unemployed, 16 were farmers end 6 were students. From de full positive result donors, the 87% (n=148) lived in Guayaquil and 22 lived in another cities of Ecuador Conclusions: The seroprevalence of HTLV I/II infection in blood donors who participated in the research at ”Teodoro Maldonado Carbo” Hospital in Guayaquil, is 0.73% (n = 170); it means that for every 137 donors, one has reactive or positive test result. It confirms the importance of preventing the disease transmission through transfused blood.